SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants! is a surprisingly well-made party game that successfully captures the style and humor of the popular Nickelodeon franchise. The title's wealth of colorful cinematics easily tops those in the Mario Party franchise and its removal of board movement (and emphasis on mini-games) creates a speedier party experience. Meanwhile, many of the mini-games present in the project are enjoyable, if shallow, for a variety of different reasons. The biggest oversight is closely related. The truth is that there just aren't enough minis to keep most players satisfied for an extended period of time, especially since the challenges are inherently shallow. Diehard SpongeBob fans and younger gamers will still get a kick out of what's there, and general audiences looking for a multiplayer option could do worse. But with titles like Mario Party 7 in mind, there are deeper alternatives readily available.

But of course, SpongeBob SquarePants: Lights, Camera, Pants! is universal, so anybody can enjoy it. Anybody except everybody, that is, but I'm sure kids with friends will enjoy this game to some extent. Just don't expect to let the AI make up for the lack of friends, because they don't really react very well. Easy makes them dumb, and hard turns them into frenzied generic robots that make no mistakes. Medium? Well - a blend of the two, but there is really no intelligence here. Of course, the odd SpongeBob appearance and the odd wisecrack from Mr. Krabs makes up for the otherwise abysmal tasting Krabby Patty of a game, but unless you really have an itch for a Sponge game, this probably should be avoided.